Last night, after going to bed, I had decided not to intrude on Cecily's mourning and instead went straight to sleep. This was my way of showing respect on my end, but looking back, maybe I should have went to have a chat with her. Thinking about it now, she would have probably tried her best to switch gears and act like I didn't even catch her crying, but I still feel kind of bad for just leaving her alone like that. In any case, these were the thoughts I had right before I closed my Eyes.

Suddenly waking up, the first thought that had come to mind was how much my feet hurt. Ow, I can barely stand. Makes sense though, they've taken me halfway across the continent length-wise, so it's no wonder they feel so sore. Hey, now that I think about it...

"Where am I?" I started darting my Eyes around to survey the flowery fields around me, "Wait, I did wake up, didn't I?"

Ah, I get it now - I'm still dreaming. I heard some people say that dreams are a gateway to one's innermost thoughts, so at least I can rest easy knowing I'm all flowers on the inside. Squatting down to pick a couple of them off from the ground, I couldn't help but notice the beauty that lay dormant in their peculiar red petals that swirled inwards. I wonder if flowers like these exist out in the real world too? Heh, I'd like to get some for Anna... Well, I say that, but for whatever reason the only person that comes to mind when I see these flowers is...

"Cecily?" I saw a long, red haired young girl standing in front of me, "Eh? Why are you so small? You look just like back when we were in ARA!"

"..." She stared on deep into my soul, "Why?"

"Eh? Why?" I tilted my head, "Uhhh, I don't know. You tell me!"

Well, I guess that's what a dream is truly like. Things don't have to make sense in here. That being said, this is quite nostalgic. Looking her up, down and all around, I felt as if it was just yesterday the four of us were out making rounds in Bilgam. Carter was there too.

"Oh!" My face contorted into a huge smile as soon as the red haired guy with a slicked back undercut popped into existence right next to Cecily, "Carter!"

He's just like how I remember him! Whoa, except way shorter, how odd... Or wait, how long has it been since he died? Maybe he didn't shrink, but I grew? Whoa, this is great! Now the only person that's missing is Grim, and we can have the whole gang back together, one last...!

"Eh?" I stood horrified after seeing a limp body poof into existence next to them, "G-Grim?"

The body was definitely his, except he was younger. Around the age of 15, I'd say. He still had his short ponytail from back then which everyone but Cecily made fun of, and his empty Eyes that were somehow wide open and staring up at the heavens were bright Green. The other two weren't as reactive to this as I was, only opting to glance back at him before returning their naive, soulless gazes back to me. This was getting weird, why is Grim...

"Oh right..." I finally remembered, "He's dead now."

Soon after that, Carter fell to the ground too. This time, Cecily didn't even bother turning around, as if she already knew beforehand that something like this was gonna happen. She didn't blink, didn't even wince, just simply stood and stared a hole through my head. And then there were two, huh?

"I'm sorry." I went to pat her on the head, "Carter, he was someone special to the both of us. But even still, his death was what gave you and Grim Nelly, so I'm sure he died without any regrets. Grim on the other hand, I..."

Without even finishing my sentence, I started choking on my words as I saw tears form around her Eyes. One after another, they started pouring down from her cheeks. Every time I went to wipe one off, two more would emerge in its place. Soon, she had started drowning in her own tears.

"H-Hey! Get it together!" I shook her up as she coughed violently, "Stop crying! You're only making things worse!"

"W-Why...!?" She shouted in between gasping for air, "WHY?!"

"Because you're gonna die as well if you don't!" I shot back, "Stop crying, please! You can still continue on, even without him! Look, I'm sorry for not being there to protect him better, but if you die now, who's gonna take care of Cene?"

Soon after, the tears had all but suffocated her completely, she had fallen to the ground unconscious, just like those two right next to us. Fuck, she's gonna die! She's gonna die, and I'll be the only one left! I'll be all alone...

"NOOOOO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, falling from my bed the very next moment, "Ow ow ow ow ow! Fuck, shit...! Stupid nightmare!"

"Hey, you alright? I heard some shouting coming from your room." Aaron opened the door after politely knocking.

"Yeah, I'm good." I rubbed the part of my noggin that hit the floor, "Just a nightmare is all."

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"That's understandable. We saw some pretty messed up stuff these past few weeks, so it's nothing to scoff at." He went to close the door, "Might be PTSD, you're medically inclined, so I'm sure you know what that stands for. It's nothing unexpected, so just know it's all passed by now. Get dressed and come over here. Meil made us some surprisingly good pancakes."

Closing the door behind him, I couldn't help but laugh a little. That guy Meil, he of all people knows how to make pancakes? Alright, I'll try some too, just as soon as I make sure I didn't split my head on that fall earlier. Oh, gotta get dressed too.

***

Entering the dining room, four faces greeted me. Well, technically five if you count Cene's. From right to left, Cecily was cradling her boy with a calm expression, Pierre was sitting right next to her and chuckling to himself quietly, and these two idiots...

"Dude, are you putting sugar on your pancakes?!" Aaron turned back at Meil in abject horror, "Gross! I ain't eating those!"

"We are running out of jam, make do with this for now." Meil clicked his tongue at him, "Besides, what's so bad about pancakes with sugar? My dad used to make me these all the time."

"Your dad's a lunatic." Aaron turned back around, "Listen man, you're ruining some perfectly good pancakes here, y'know. Guys, you gotta back me up here, alright? He's gone completely cuckoo!"

Lightly giggling, Cecily's face warmed up a bit more to the atmosphere as she slowly and carefully put Cene back into his cradle, "I'm willing to try whatever Meil made. In any case, it can't be that bad. Pancakes are good, and sugar is good, so mixing the two together will surely make them both delicious."

"Yeah, add some milk into the mix, and I'm sure it'll be fine." Pierre reclined in his seat.

"Oh, we don't have any milk." Meil turned around.

"What?"

"I used it all on the pancakes. We don't have any more."

Sighing, Pierre and Aaron had resigned themselves to their fates of eating pancakes with a sugar spread instead of a jam one, and with absolutely no milk to go along with it. Cecily seemed pretty much fine for now, but that could just be her putting up a front like she did last night. I should probably chat with her a bit more from now on and hear her honest thoughts on all this. I'll have her live with Anna and me, I really don't mind. Besides, it's the least I could do for Grim.

"Dammit..." Aaron chewed on his food with a sour attitude, "I hate it when this guy is right..."

"I'm always right, though?" Meil flashed him a smug grin, "Really, jam is just sugar with some fruit added in. I don't see why you wouldn't think this would work."

"You're lucky you've got a face I'd hate to punch." Aaron offhandedly let slip a compliment, "By the way, that wasn't meant to be me hitting on you."

"Alright, no talking while we're eating!" Pierre de-escalated the situation, "Come on now, we've got a lot of work to do from hereon. We gotta update the headcount of our soldiers, interrogate everyone to make sure there aren't any more spies within our ranks, send out letters to as many influential people in the world as possible, and...!"

"Geez, won't you shut up already?" Aaron rolled his Eyes.

"Looks like Pierre doesn't know how to follow his own rules, hehe~!" Cecily giggled.

Bright red from falling into his own trap, Pierre instead chose to fight embarrassment with laughter as he started loudly guffawing. This sudden action in turn woke Cene up from his nap, which led to Cecily tossing him a nasty glare before getting up to calm him down again. In the end, the pancakes were pretty average.

After we had eaten our pretty average pancakes, everyone got dressed once again, this time sporting their soldier uniforms and went outside to begin work on the base. The one thing that surprised us all was that Cecily too, put on one of Grim's spare uniforms and started walking outside with us. Of course, we had some things to say about that.

"Where do you think you're going?" Pierre blocked her from passing through the front door, "You can't just leave Cene in the Generals' quarters all alone."

"What are you talking about?" She fwipped the backpack she was carrying around, revealing a tiny baby boy sleeping soundly inside, "He's right here. Heh, I'm no Lune, but I'm pretty confident in my crafting abilities! Look here, I padded the entire inside of the bag so he's super comfortable right now!"

Hearing her compare herself to Grim whilst simultaneously wearing his spare uniform somehow got to me. I felt super ashamed as I saw her smiling away and explaining her brand new invention she whipped up in a hurry. I'm sure she had a lot of qualms about putting her dead husband's uniform on, so I really didn't have anything to say against it, in fear of her getting all sad again. The guys, on the other hand, they either hadn't noticed the uniform was Grim's, or they just decided to feign ignorance as well.

"Interesting..." Meil took a deeper look at the bag, "Well, it's nothing new. Mothers who wished to remain active have been putting their babies in little straw-woven pouches for millennia. It's especially true for the Abyssals down in my home quik."

"Aww, really?" She got kind of sad, "And here I was thinking I was being crafty..."

"Well, it's certainly a good idea still." Aaron sighed, "Just make sure he doesn't fall off, y'hear?"

"Of course!" She shook the bag around a bit, scaring all of us as the baby violently cried out, "See? He ain't falling out no matter how hard you shake him!"

Just then, suddenly from behind us, a person whizzed past us and ran up to Cecily, taking the bag and thereby Cene from her. Worried, she went to attack him preemptively before stopping with tears in her Eyes and a wide smile.

"This isn't how you're supposed to treat a baby, y'know kid?" He shook his head in disappointment, "Really, and here I thought you'd make a great mother after you survived taking care of Nelly."

"M..." She muttered a bit before shouting and giving him a big ol' hug, "Max!"

"Max?!" I and the other two Generals who knew him suddenly yelled.

"Eugh, so this is the current state of the base..." Another rougher voice came up from behind us, "Max, I told you we shouldn't have dallied for too long. These runts are nothing without us. Utterly shameful."

"Jorgen!" We shouted once again.

"B-Brother!" Pierre went to give him an emotional bear hug, before falling to the ground after Jorgen had evaded him.

"None of that, brother. We can leave the emotional reunions for later." He fixed up his coat, "Now tell me, everyone, how long has it been?"

Gawking at his cool stature, we couldn't help but feel at ease when we saw the first wave of help had arrived. Granted, it was a tad bit late, but there's no doubt in my mind that their presence will be of great help to us. Although Meil, as the sole person here who’s met neither Jorgen nor Maxwell, was left all too confused by the situation.